


Night into Day

by SolStudio



Series: Nowhere to Run [1]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: (but not really), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Demon Shane Madej, Enemies to Friends, First Meetings, Gen, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-16 22:31:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20610419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolStudio/pseuds/SolStudio
Summary: Through a series of coincidences and misunderstandings, local film student Ryan Bergara has mistaken tired history major Shane Madej for a demon. Shane just finds the whole thing hilarious.





	Night into Day

**Author's Note:**

> This idea originally came from a prompt from writing-prompt-s on tumblr, but I’ve changed it around a bit to suit my needs :)

When Shane’s D&D party had come up with the idea to try out LARP for the first time, he’d been as excited as the rest of them. The plan had been to have a one-off meeting where they’d still all play as their characters from their ongoing campaign, but in a new story setting, and instead of gathering around a table, they were going outside in full cosplay. 

Shane’s excitement, of course, had dwindled when he realized that he had neglected to consider how much effort he’d actually have to put into making his outfit. In their current campaign, he’d chosen to play as a tiefling sorcerer, which meant that he had to invest in a pair of horns and black sclera contacts. He was immensely grateful to his past self for choosing his tiefling to have a fair skin tone so he hadn’t needed to invest in red or purple body paint as well. 

Clothes had been the next step of putting together his look, and he’d decided to go with an ‘opulent sorcerer’ type of look. A cloak clasped around his shoulders with a loose shirt, a leather belt, and snug pants with lacing up the sides were the key components of the outfit. He’d also covered himself in gold and ornate jewels, to drive home his character’s love for everything shiny and valuable. 

He’d sent a text to Sara, complaining that he looked like a demon cultist of some sort with a fetish for gold, and she had sent back an unhealthy amount of emojis making fun of his predicament. She had finished putting together her cosplay in only a day. She, the lucky devil, played a human bard and only had to make one trip to the thrift store to buy a dress and wooden flute. She had been done with her outfit before Shane had even gotten the first piece of his. 

Now, the little bit of excitement he had left for this whole event waned into nonexistence as another tree branch whacked him across the face when he accidentally let go of a branch too early. It was the middle of the night, and instead of sleeping comfortably in his bed, he was wearing these uncomfortable contacts that were making his whole eyeball itch. He hadn’t even known that was possible until right now.

For this one-shot style campaign, they were planning to start as if they were all meeting for the first time and working together for this one night. Why the game master wanted to have this LARP at such a strange hour was still a mystery to Shane. He’d asked, but the GM had only smiled and told him that it’d be a part of the campaign and he couldn’t tell without spoiling the story. 

Thus, when the GM told him that he’d be starting in the small, local graveyard and the party would meet up with him there as their first meeting, he’d hadn’t put up much more of a fight. Although, he was definitely regretting it now as, in order to get to the graveyard, he had to walk through the forest separating it from the parking lot they had met up in earlier.

He sighed with relief as he finally broke the tree line into the cemetery, taking a second to brush various leaves and other debris off his cloak. Looking up, he took in the sight before him. While the sight was mostly normal (tombstones everywhere and menacing, dense fog as if taken right out of a horror movie), instead of the empty graveyard he expected, there was someone else sitting in the middle of the tombstones. However, that wasn’t the strangest part.

The man looked to be about the same age as Shane, but he was sitting on the ground next to a _ literal salt circle, what the fuck _, that was surrounded by lit candles, and in the middle of the circle was a pentagram painted in the grass with, what appeared to Shane to be, white spray paint. Also, Shane noticed absently, there seemed to be a camera on a tripod aimed in the direction of both the man and the circle. 

The man, who hadn’t moved an inch since Shane entered the clearing, continued to stare at him with haunted, wide eyes.

“Uhhhh…” Shane took a wary step back. He really didn’t want to get stabbed tonight by some actual crazed cultist.

Just as he took his first step back, the man screamed and started scrambling backwards on the ground, kicking his feet in desperation to move faster away from Shane. When realizing he wasn’t moving away fast enough, he suddenly seemed to give up and curled up into a ball on the ground, covering his head with his arms as he started to beg. “Oh god, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think it’d actually work. Oh god, oh fuck! Please don’t kill me! Shit shit _ shit. _”

As the man went silent and continued to shake silently on the ground, Shane contemplated what he should do. He wasn’t sure what weird ritual this guy was performing, but he knew he definitely didn’t want to be a part of it. On one hand, he should probably make his get away now while the man was too occupied with his own terror to notice him leaving, but on the other hand, he wouldn’t feel right leaving anyone alone in the middle of the graveyard this late at night, much less someone who was having a breakdown as this man seemed to be.

Knowing it was a stupid thing to do, he took a step closer and extended a hand in a metaphorical peace offering. “Hey man, you alright?”

When the man gave no signal as to whether he even heard Shane, he took another cautious step forward. “Look I’m not gonna kill you. It’s gonna be okay. I’m not quite sure what you’re doing out here with a camera and a pentagram in the middle of the night, but I’m not quite sure why I’m in this graveyard either to be honest.” 

The man mumbled something under his breath too quiet for Shane to catch.

“Sorry, what was that?”

The man shifted an arm so that his face was exposed again to Shane, and glanced warily at him. “I said, it’s because I summoned you here.”

“Excuse me?” Shane yanked his hand back in confusion.

The man seemed to gain some confidence and shifted his body to an upright position, even though he remained sitting on the ground. “That’s what I was doing out here tonight. I was trying to summon you. Well, not specifically you I guess, but any demon really. See, I have a small YouTube channel where I talk about mysteries to do with crime and the supernatural and sometimes that means I go ghost hunting and stuff so I can prove to everyone that ghosts are real. I normally don’t mess with demons unless I absolutely have to, but the evidence this season has been basically nonexistent, and I really didn’t want to disappoint any of my subscribers. So now you’re here.” At the end of his nervous ramble, the man seemed out of breath.

Oh. _ Oh. _ This guy thought that _ he _ was a demon. He’d totally forgotten about his outfit. Shane smirked to himself. This whole situation was kind of hilarious now that he knew why this guy was out here in the first place.

Deciding to play it up, because this whole situation was turning out to be honestly one of the funniest things that happened to him in a long time, Shane put his hands on his hips. “Well lucky for you I’m feeling rather benevolent today and I’m willing to make a deal.”

“A deal?” The other man swallowed nervously.

“Yup. In exchange for not posting any footage of me or telling anyone that you saw me here tonight, I’ll let you walk away from this whole thing, I won’t drag your soul back to hell with me, _ and _I won’t even doom you to damnation. A once-in-a-lifetime kinda deal, if you ask me.” 

The man shuffled backwards before seemingly hesitating. “But I-” He trailed off, looking troubled. Shane supposed his hesitation was understandable as he did seem to be someone who genuinely believed in the supernatural and proving that it was real, but he also seemed resigned to the fact that his soul was more important than sharing any evidence.

While the mystery man continued to hesitate, probably one of the best coincidences to ever happen to Shane took place. As he continued to take his time in deciding whether or not to give up some of the best evidence he’d ever gotten, suddenly, the camera on the tripod next to the man gave off a few large sparks and started smoking as if something inside of it was burning.

The man screeched, stumbling away from the smoking camera to secure his safety and throwing a wide-eyed look at Shane. 

Idly, Shane wondered what caused the camera to fail. Faulty wiring? Maybe one of those lithium batteries that caused all those cellphones to catch on fire a few years ago? Did they even put those in cameras or was it just in those phones? No matter the cause, it only seemed to make the guy staring at him, face pale and haunted, believe all the more adamantly in Shane’s status as a demon. 

“I’m sorry! I won’t tell anyone I swear!” The man started to beg, closing his eyes in fear of further retaliation.

Realizing that the joke was going a bit too far now, and that the guy actually was on the verge of hysteria, Shane raised his hand in a calming gesture. “Hey man, it’s okay. No big deal. You just agreed not to tell anyone so we’re all good. I’ll be on my way and you get to go buy a new camera. Sorry about that.”

The man straightened up and nodded vigorously. “Thank you so much. I’ll never mention this to anyone ever; I swear on my life!” 

Shane turned and started to walk away, raising a hand in farewell to the man behind him. “Nice meeting you man!” Behind him he could hear the frantic movement of the guy gathering up his belongings as fast as possible in order to make his getaway before Shane could change his mind. 

Laughing to himself, Shane made his way back to where he had parked his car and headed home for the night. It wasn’t until he’d gotten home, changed into his pajamas, and gotten under the covers in his bed that he realized he’d totally forgotten about the LARP. 

* * *

Sara had been furious the next morning when he’d woken up and called to explain to her that he ended up going home early. He wasn’t sure why he chose to omit the details leading up to the decision, but it just seemed like the right thing to do. He had forced the guy promise not to tell anyone about the whole encounter, after all, so it seemed only fair that he extended him the same courtesy. Sara had given him a thorough scolding about letting your friends know where you are when you’re all alone in the middle of the night, and she’d told him how worried all their friends had been. After he’d given his apologies though, Sara confessed to him that they were all just glad he was alright and then threatened him with great bodily harm if he ever made her worry like that again.

Rolling out of bed and shuffling his way to the bathroom he shared with his three roommates, Shane groaned when he realised that he’d need to go to the campus library today to check out a book. 

He was currently taking Cultural Anthropology for one of his Gen Eds, and the professor had given them an assignment on cultural transmission that they’d need to read an excerpt from a specific textbook to complete. However, since they were only going to be using the book for the one assignment, it was suggested that they check it out from the library instead of spending just over $100 for their own copy. He’d been planning on borrowing the book from a friend who had previously taken the class and chosen to buy the book, but they’d told him yesterday that they had misplaced it and hadn’t been able to find it so he was on his own.

The walk to the library wasn’t a long one since he lived in an apartment complex right on the edge of campus, but the heat and humidity were unforgiving. With the sun was beating down harshly upon him, Shane wanted nothing more than to get out of the heat and back into the AC like Mother Nature intended. He questioned himself everyday as to why he’d chosen to pursue college in California instead of back home in Illinois.

Relief rushed over him as the library came into sight, and he jogged the last few feet to the entrance, hauling open one of the heavy wooden doors. As the blast of cool air from the air-conditioned building hit him, he heaved a satisfied breath. 

Shane headed towards the section of the library where he knew he’d find all the books on cultural anthropology, navigating his way between the shelves until coming to a stop in an aisle towards the back left corner of the library. Glancing over the spines of the books in search of the author’s name, his eyes finally fell upon the one he’d been searching for.

Exclaiming in excitement at having found the book, he pulled it from the shelf and began making his way towards the front desk, looking towards the student worker who happened to be on check out duty.

No. _ No way _. These types of coincidences didn’t happen to Shane, especially not so many in such a short period of time. 

Sitting at the check out desk of the library was the very same guy he’d bumped into in the cemetery last night, hunched over some paper he seemed to be writing something down on. A brief glance towards the photo ID connected to a lanyard sitting on the table next to him revealed that mystery man’s name was actually Ryan. Apparently, not only did this Ryan guy go to his school, but he just so happened to be working at the library on one of the only days Shane had ever been inside.

Dramatically plonking the textbook down on the countertop, he stood in anticipation for the man to look up and realize Shane had just been another nerdy college student who enjoyed roleplaying games this entire time. Then they could laugh about the whole thing, and maybe he’d even make a friend out of this crazy situation they’d found themselves in.

Ryan glanced up tiredly, seemingly wiped-out at even just the thought of having to scan out the textbook for him. Shane wondered if he was so exhausted because he hadn’t been able to fall asleep after their encounter last night. 

As his eyes landed on Shane, his eyes instantly went from a tired, half-mast to a wide-open look of alarm. 

“What are you doing here?!” Ryan yelled, jumping to his feet and pointing a finger directly in front of Shane’s face.

“Surprise!” Shane threw his hands up as if this had been some kind of big joke all along. Letting his hands hang back down by his sides, he smiled and waited for Ryan’s inevitable realization of the truth of the situation.

However, Ryan seemed to have the exact opposite reaction. He looked back and forth quickly, as if searching for someone close by to save him or maybe mapping out all the nearest exits and quickest escape routes; Shane wasn’t quite sure. “I didn’t tell anyone! I promised you I wouldn’t say anything, and I’ve kept my word! Why are you following me?”

_ Really? _ He still thought he was a demon? Shane had to give the guy credit, he was definitely a true believer. In one way, he felt a bit bad for decieving Ryan. Unfortunately for that small part of him, the large majority was elated at the chance to continue this game he had started last night. 

“Hey man, no worries! I’m not here to hurt you. Just thought I’d stop in and say hello!” Shane looked back down at the counter gestured towards the book sitting between them. “And pick up a text book for an anthropology assignment.”

“_ Assignment?” _Ryan’s voice went high pitched.

“Oh yeah! I’m taking some classes here. Thought I’d stay here for awhile; after all, college campuses have an abundance of stress and misery.” 

“_ Classes? Here?” _ Ryan looked as if someone had just signed his death warrant and handed it to him with a smile on their face.

“Yup! So I guess I’ll be seeing you around! Oh, and I’m Shane by the way.” He held out his hand. “I don’t think I properly introduced myself last night.”

Seemingly in a daze, Ryan reached out and shook Shane’s hand, mumbling his own name in return. Once they’d released each other’s hands, Ryan pulled his back towards his face, turning it back and forth and staring at it as if making sure it was actually part of his body.

“So, can I check that book out now?” Shane tried to get the conversation back on track.

“Oh, yeah.” Ryan scanned the book and Shane’s student ID, which he did a quick inspection of before evidently accepting that it was real and Shane truly was enrolled here. “Here you go.”

“Thanks man.” Shane unzipped his backpack and stashed the book inside. “Hey, out of curiosity, are you working here tomorrow?”

“Um, yeah. Why?” Ryan gave Shane a wary look as he worked on closing his bag again.

“Well, this isn’t a long assignment so I’ll probably try and finish it tonight, which means I’ll be returning the book tomorrow. Gotta check in on the human who summoned me after all!” Shane winked at him and began to move towards the exit.

“You don’t have to come back! You can keep the book even!” Ryan leaned across the counter, balancing on his hands and raising his voice to make sure he was heard as Shane got further away. 

“Bye Ryan!” Shane yelled back cheerfully, backing his way out towards the front doors. “See you soon, buddy!” He smiled even wider as Ryan groaned at his misfortune, placing his head in his hands and slumping back down into his seat.

God, he couldn’t wait for tomorrow. 

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been stuck on this idea ever since I first read the writing prompt on tumblr, and I finally sat down and wrote it out. This is most likely going to be a series of one-shots so feel free to stick around for more!  
Find me on tumblr [here!](https://solstudio.tumblr.com/)  
Thanks for reading! :)


End file.
